See the Gift: Where the rubber meats the road in youth development

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Foster and System-Impacted youth are most likely to receive deficits-based messages and interactions about themselves–these focus on what they lack, and how they have negative attributes. This messaging puts a person into a fixed mindset where they are unable to grow, reduces their grit and limits their own perception of possible life outcomes. Example: formerly incarcerated youth have received “proof” of how “bad” they are in the form of imprisonment. However, when professionals are trained to see through fronts put up by youth into strengths they have in given situations, it puts youth into a growth mindset where they can improve their own situation, dream/act big and take control of life outcomes. Unfortunately, educators are never trained on the specific strategies to achieve such outcomes with students. This professional development series addresses this gap to increase the effectiveness of educators so that they may improve the outcomes of their Foster and System-Impacted youth!

10 orgs will receive a 6-month professional development series on effective strategies to support F&SI youth, including districts, nonprofits who & juvenile justice, significantly increasing their effectiveness in engaging F&SI youth for success. This series is based on strengths-based practice. SBP consists of seeing the gift (talent, positive attribute, noble desire) that youth bring in challenging situations. Example: youth gets into a fight, the counselor learns the fight was over defending her little sister. While fighting is not positive, the family value of loyalty is. The counselor see’s this “gift,” reflects it back to the student, the student now feels seen & is ready to accept support. Trainees learn & practice applying the following strategies within 2 strands:
See the Gift: the essentials of strengths-based practice
See the gift
Affirmation first, advice second
Collaborative problem solving
Judge the behavior, not the person
Ask “what,” not “why.”
Praise the effort, not the outcome
Let Me Get at You: effectively supporting young men of color
Relationship Responsibility
Give them what they want so I can give them what they need
Tailor my communication
Collaborative problem solving, not self disclosure
See the target, hit the target
Watch my language
Both strands contain strategies for all youth, but to successfully serve F&SI youth it is important to have specific strategies for males as they comprise 84% of LA County juvenile felony arrests (kidsdata.org).

Across LA County, the quality of service delivery to Foster and System-Impacted youth will improve significantly. Many orgs already support F&SI youth. For most professionals, the hard part of serving F&SI youth is not finding resources for them, it’s successfully connecting with them such that they are open to receiving services AND see themselves as an agent in their own lives. Through this professional development series, they will become much more effective at engaging their youth, building deeper relationships and helping them achieve success. As orgs see increases in their productivity, they will ensure that strengths-based practice–building their F&SI youth up from their strengths instead of focusing on faults–becomes a core value in their work. Those orgs that already hold this value will become well versed on operationalizing it.
Additionally, these orgs will be much better equipped to serve their young men of color who have significantly higher rates of system impaction.

Trainee orgs will report back both qualitative and quantitative data on changes in youth engagement and give feedback on the effectiveness of the training and implementation.
While this is an early-stage initiative, we do have some data on its effectiveness. This year over 400 staff of 10 orgs took this training. 98.3% of them rated it very high/high.
100% of respondents answered “Yes” to the question, “Is this something you feel others at your school site/department could benefit from?” “I would like to see this training be mandatory for teachers who are not so patient with young Black Men!” Ms. Edwards, Counselor “This is a new and fresh approach to shifting school culture that produces effective outcomes.” Trinika Barnett, Equity Coord. “The strengths based strategies were very eye opening, and it helped me do some reflection on my interactions with my students. I was especially appreciative of the role playing and collaboration opportunities.” George Mejia, SEL Instructional Lead